Jack Teagarden, whose career lasted from the 1920s to the '60s, is regarded by many aficionados and fellow players as the greatest trombonist in the history of jazz. Largely self-taught and inspired by the gospel singing and blues playing he heard growing up in the American South, he was technically gifted and displayed a flare for musical invention that meshed with the growing popularity of Dixieland. Over four decades, he performed and made records with jazz stars such as Louis Armstrong, Red Nichols, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller and he left a legacy that has amazed and inspired trombone players ever since.
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he was taught to play music by his father, an amateur trumpet player, and he accompanied his mother, who played piano in local cinemas. His grounding in spiritual music and the blues informed his approach to playing and he soon added vocals to his performances in a manner that matched his agility on the trombone. In the early 1920s, he started out professionally with bandleaders including Peck Kelley and Ben Pollack and, moving to New York, he joined other stellar artists in clubs and on recordings. He played in Chicago with Wingy Manone's band for a while and for most of the '30s, hit by the Depression, he worked steadily with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra.
Teagarden led an aggregation of his own through the years of World War II and in 1946 he joined the Louis Armstrong All Stars, with whom over the next five years he made what many fans regard as the finest recordings of his life. In the '50s he had his own bands and led one with Earl Hines that toured internationally. Many of his recordings are still available and he can be seen performing in feature films including 'Birth of the Blues' (1941), 'The Strip' (1951) and 'The Glass Wall' (1953) plus a concert documentary filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival titled 'Jazz On a Summer's Day'. He died of bronchial pneumonia in New Orleans aged 58.
